Thursday, 5 November 2009

I can't be a gaming nerd all the time, can I? I love my anime too. What's really difficult though, is that I am SUPER picky about my anime. I tend to watch the first few episodes of a bunch of different series then end up dropping all but three or four. Last season I was totally blown away by Pandora Hearts. It had all of the dark intensity of Vampire Knight without being as overly dramatic. I ended up dropping a TON of series like Shugo Chara, which seems to be suffering from the Sailor Moon syndrome of too many filler episodes.

So here's what I've picked up this season:

Letter Bee (Tegami no Bachi)

While I'm still a little bit on the fence on this one, the first episode was really intriguing. I'm on the most recent episode (fifth) and I'm starting to feel a little bit frustrated with the slow pacing. I really do enjoy the characters however, so I think I may be willing to wait a little longer until the story actually starts.

Hanasakeru Seishounen

I'm pretty much just dropping this one. Again, problems with pacing. While I love a good reverse harem (don't judge me!) this plot is becoming a little overly complicated and political without being interesting. Series like Saiunkoki Monotagari manage to weave complex politics into the main storyline while still managing to be exciting and fairly simple to understand. The intrigue in HanaSei is beginning to feel stale and almost forced, and the series can't seem to decide whether or not it's a romance.

Fairy Tale

I have never watched Naruto (too much of a back catalog for me to catch up with) but this series seems as if they switched the hair colors of the male and female leads and substituted wizards for ninjas. That being said, the characters are likable, the dialog funny and the episodes aired so far seem to be some good quality stuff. I can see the potential for this to get boring though.

Yumeiro Patissierie

I haven't read the manga for this one, but I am a HUGE fan of Kitchen Princess, and I love my reverse harem, so I thought I'd give this one a go. I don't think it has quite the same charm as the Kitchen Princess series; it feels a lot like a cooking version of La Corda D'Oro. It's pretty cute and the first couple episodes were decent so I'll stick with it for a while.

Kimi ni Todoke

This one I actually stumbled on because I was tired of waiting for new episodes of the other animes I was watching this season. I have to say, I was completely surprised out how good it is. This series is probably my favorite so far; the only word I could use to describe the story and art is "gentle." It makes the fangirl in me squee at the quiet romances and friendships.

If anyone is watching something different or has recommendations, feel free to comment :)